Ice maker for refrigerator

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an ice maker for a refrigerator. The ice maker is further provided with an ice making evaporator in addition to an evaporator for cooling a refrigerating chamber of a freezing chamber, and the ice making evaporator is sunk in water to generate ice, thereby quickly creating transparent ice. The ice maker can also be disposed in the refrigerating chamber or a refrigerating chamber door, thus to prevent ice from being formed with air bubble remaining in water, resulting in enhancing transparency of ice. In addition, even if the ice maker is disposed in the refrigerating chamber door, cold air is not needed to be induced from the freezing chamber, which allows independent operations of the freezing chamber and the ice maker, thereby increasing energy efficiency.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an ice maker employed in arefrigerator.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent time, large-sized refrigerators are provided with ice makerstherein for making ice pieces. The ice maker is configured such that acertain amount of water supplied in an ice making tray is iced byapplying cold air and then the ice in the tray is carried to an icestoring container for storage.

In such ice maker, the ice making tray is disposed under a conditionhaving an ice point (freezing point) lower than 0° C., such as afreezing chamber, so as to freeze water by cold air. Hence, a portionwhere cold air first reaches starts to be iced, and such icing isadvanced toward a central direction. For example, the is surface of thewater which is first contacted by its surrounding cold air start to beiced to form a core of ice. Such icing is in progress toward the centerof the water once the core of ice is formed, thereby generating iceeventually.

However, the related art ice maker is configured to be disposed in thefreezing chamber to freeze water using cold air cooling the freezingchamber or configured to freeze water by inducing cold air of thefreezing chamber to a refrigerating chamber door even if it is installedin the refrigerating chamber door. Accordingly, a loss occurs due to aconvection heat transfer, which lowers icing speed.

Furthermore, water supplied to the ice making tray contains a certainamount of air. Such air is separated from the water during the processof freezing the water in the ice making tray, so as to exist in the formof air bubble. However, as mentioned above, during the icing process,the surface of water is first frozen by the cold air of the freezingchamber. As a result, such air bubble in the water is not dischargedoutwardly but remains, which causes a generation of opaque ice.

DISCLOSURE Technical Solution

Therefore, to solve the problems of the related art ice maker for arefrigerator, an object of the present invention is to provide an icemaker for a refrigerator capable of enhancing an icing speed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an ice maker for arefrigerator capable of facilitating the generation of transparent iceby allowing air bubble separated from water during an icing process tobe quickly discharged out of the water.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein,there is provided a refrigerator including: a refrigerator main bodyhaving at least one chamber and at least one door for opening/closingthe at least one chamber; a compressor disposed in the refrigerator mainbody; a condenser disposed in the refrigerator main body and connectedto the compressor; a cooling evaporator disposed in the refrigeratormain body and connected to the condenser so as to supply cold air intothe chamber; and an ice making evaporator disposed in the refrigeratormain body and connected to the condenser so as to freeze water in an icemaking tray.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided arefrigerator including: a housing having inlet and outlet allowingintroduction and discharge of a refrigerant; and at least one or moreice core portions protruded from one side of the housing to be sunk inwater in an ice making tray.

A refrigerator according to the present invention is further providedwith an ice making evaporator in addition to an evaporator for cooling arefrigerating chamber or a freezing chamber and allows the ice makingevaporator to be sunk in water for icing, so as to enable a quickgeneration of transparent ice. Also, an ice maker can be disposed eitherin the refrigerating chamber or a refrigerating chamber door, thus toprevent the ice from being generated with air bubbles remaining in thewater, thereby enhancing ice transparency. In addition, even if the icemaker is disposed in the refrigerating chamber door, cold air does nothave to be induced from the freezing chamber, which allows independentoperations of the freezing chamber and the ice maker, resulting in anincrease in energy efficiency.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a three-door bottom freezer typerefrigerator having an ice maker according to the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 5 are block diagrams showing embodiments of a refrigeratingcycle applied to the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the ice maker of the refrigeratorshown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are horizontal and longitudinal cross-sectional viewsshowing an ice making evaporator in the ice maker shown in FIG. 6;

FIGS. 9 and 10 are schematic views showing a relation between the icemaker of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1 and a water supply/drain unit;and

FIGS. 11 and 16 are block diagrams showing other embodiments of arefrigerating cycle applied to the refrigerator shown in FIG. 1.

MODE FOR INVENTION

Hereinafter, description will be given in detail of a refrigeratoraccording to the present invention with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a three-door bottom freezer typerefrigerator having an ice maker according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the refrigerator according to the present inventionmay include a refrigerating chamber 2 disposed at an upper side of arefrigerator main body 1 for storing foods in a fresh state, and afreezing chamber 3 disposed at a lower side of the refrigerator mainbody 1 for storing foods in a frozen state. The refrigerator main body 1is provided with a refrigerating chamber door 4 and a freezing chamberdoor 5 respectively for opening/closing the refrigerating chamber 2 andthe freezing chamber 3. A machine room (not shown) in which a compressor10 (shown in FIG. 2 or the like) and a condenser 20 (shown in FIG. 2 orthe like) are disposed is formed at a lower end portion of a rearsurface of the refrigerator main body 1. A cooling evaporator 30 (shownin FIG. 2 or the like) connected to the condenser 20 and the compressor10 for supplying cold air to the refrigerating chamber 2 or the freezingchamber 3 is installed at a rear, lateral or upper surface of therefrigerator main body 1, or be installed inside a partition walldividing the refrigerating chamber 2 and the freezing chamber 3. Onlyone cooling evaporator 30 may be provided so as to distribute cold airto the refrigerating chamber 2 and the freezing chamber 3.Alternatively, the cooling evaporator 30 may be provided by beingdivided into a refrigerating chamber evaporator 31 (shown in FIG. 3 orthe like) and a freezing chamber evaporator 32 (shown in FIG. 3 or thelike), such that cold air can independently be supplied to therefrigerating chamber 2 and the freezing chamber 3.

The refrigerating chamber 2 is provided with an ice maker 100 forgenerating ice, and an ice bin 200 for storing ice generated by the icemaker 100 is installed in the refrigerating chamber door 4. Although notshown in the drawings, the ice maker 100 may be installed above the icebin 200 in the refrigerating chamber door 4.

The ice maker 100, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, may include an ice makingevaporator 110 configuring a refrigerating cycle device together withthe compressor 10, the condenser 20 and the cooling evaporator 30, anice making tray 120 for containing water to be iced as much as the icemaking evaporator 110 being sunk, and a container driving unit forrotating the ice making tray 120 by a certain angle so as to drop thegenerated ice.

The ice making evaporator 110, as aforementioned, is connected to arefrigerating cycle device for cooling a refrigerator which isconfigured by the compressor 10, the condenser 20 and the coolingevaporator 30, so as to configure a refrigerating cycle device alltogether. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the refrigerating cycledevice can be configured by one compressor 10, one condenser 20connected to a discharge side of the compressor 10, the coolingevaporator 30 connected to the one condenser 20, and the ice makingevaporator 110 connected in parallel to the condenser 20 together withthe cooling evaporator 30. Also, there is further provided an expandingvalve 40 disposed between the condenser 20 and the cooling evaporator30, in more particular, at a portion lower than a diverged point betweenthe cooling evaporator 30 and the ice making evaporator 110 so as toexpand a high pressure refrigerant. A first refrigerant converting valve51 implemented as a three-way valve is installed between a dischargeside of the compressor 10 and an inlet of the condenser 20. A firstoutlet of the first refrigerant switching valve 51 allows the connectionbetween the compressor 10 and the condenser 20 whereas a second outletof the first refrigerant switching valve 51 is connected to a bypasspipe diverged from a main pipe 61 for connecting the discharge side ofthe compressor 10 to the inlet of the ice making evaporator 110.

First and second switching valves 55 and 56 are installed at inlet andoutlet sides of the ice making evaporator 110, respectively.Accordingly, the first and second switching valves 55 and 56 are openupon the icing so as to allow a refrigerant to be introduced into theice making evaporator 110 via the main pipe 61, whereas being closedupon an ice separation or a non-operation of icing so as to block theintroduction of a refrigerant into the ice making evaporator 110 via thebypass pipe 62. Alternatively, only one of the first and secondswitching valves 56, especially, the first switching valve 55 may beinstalled at the inlet side of the ice making evaporator 110.

Here, only one cooling evaporator 30 may be installed as shown in FIG.2. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, the refrigerating chamberevaporator 31 and the freezing chamber evaporator 32 may independentlybe installed. In this case, the refrigerating chamber evaporator 31 andthe freezing chamber evaporator 32 may independently be provided so asto be connected to each other in parallel. A second refrigerantconverting valve 52 implemented as a three-way valve for distributing arefrigerant for supply is installed at an inlet of the refrigeratingchamber evaporator 31 and the freezing chamber evaporator 32. A firstoutlet of the second refrigerant converting valve 52 is connected to therefrigerating chamber evaporator 31 while a second outlet thereof isconnected to the freezing chamber evaporator 32. Expanding valves 41 and42 are independently disposed between the second refrigerant convertingvalve 52 and the refrigerating chamber evaporator 31 and between thesecond refrigerant converting valve 52 and the freezing chamberevaporator 32. Alternatively, one integral expanding valve may beinstalled between the second refrigerant converting valve 52 and therefrigerating chamber evaporator 31 and between the second refrigerantconverting valve 52 and the freezing chamber evaporator 32.

On the other hand, the cooling evaporator 30, as shown in FIG. 4, may beconfigured such that the refrigerating chamber evaporator 31 isconnected to the freezing chamber evaporator 32 in series. In this case,a third switching valve 57 implemented as a two-way valve by which arefrigerant selectively flows is installed between the outlet side ofthe condenser 20 and the refrigerant exclusive evaporator 30. Theexpanding valve 40 is installed between the third switching valve 57 andthe refrigerant exclusive evaporator, namely, the refrigerating chamberevaporator 31. However, as shown in FIG. 5, a second refrigerantconverting valve 52 implemented as a three-way valve for allowing arefrigerant to selectively flow to the refrigerating chamber evaporator31 and the freezing chamber evaporator 32 is installed at the outletside of the condenser 20. A first outlet of the second refrigerantconverting valve 51 may sequentially be connected in series to therefrigerating chamber evaporator 31 and the freezing chamber evaporator32, and a second outlet thereof may directly be connected to thefreezing chamber evaporator 32. In this case, the expanding valves 41and 42 are installed respectively between the first outlet of the secondrefrigerant converting valve 52 and the inlet side of the refrigeratingchamber evaporator 31 and between the second outlet of the secondrefrigerant converting valve 52 and the freezing chamber evaporator 32.Alternatively, the expanding valve may be installed as one integraldevice.

Unexplained reference numeral 70 denotes a drier, and 80 denotes anaccumulator.

Operation and effect of the refrigerator according to the presentinvention having such configuration will now be described.

That is, the compressor 10 starts operating to compress a refrigerant.The compressed refrigerant is discharged into the condenser 20 via themain pipe 61. The refrigerant flown through the condenser 20 isintroduced into the cooling evaporator 30 via the expanding valve 40.The refrigerant introduced into the cooling evaporator 30 is recollectedto the compressor 10 with generating cold air. The cold air generated inthe cooling evaporator 30 is supplied each to the refrigerating chamber2 and the freezing chamber 3, so as to keep foods in the refrigerator ina fresh state.

Here, in case where the cooling evaporator 30 is configured by therefrigerating chamber evaporator 31 and the freezing chamber evaporator32 which are connected to each other in parallel or in series, arefrigerant may be supplied respectively or sequentially to therefrigerating chamber evaporator 31 and the freezing chamber evaporator32, so as to independently cool the refrigerating chamber 2 and thefreezing chamber 3.

In the meantime, in case where a refrigerating cycle device of therefrigerator carries out an ice making operation, the first and secondswitching valves 55 and 56 are open. Accordingly, a refrigerant whichflew through the condenser 20 via the first switching valve 55 ispartially introduced into the ice making evaporator 110 via the mainpipe 61. The refrigerant introduced in the ice making evaporator 110quickly freezes water contained in the ice making tray 120 while flowingthrough the ice making evaporator 110, so as to fast make ice with hightransparency.

Here, the ice making evaporator 110 may be provided with an ice coreportion for forming an ice core.

To this end, the ice making evaporator 110, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8,may include a housing 111 having inlet and outlet at both ends in alengthwise direction and curved in a shape of ‘Π’, and at least one ormore ice core portions 112 protruded from a lower surface of the housing111 with a certain length. The length of the ice core portion 112 may beformed as long as the lower portion thereof being sunk in the watercontained in the ice making tray 120.

A refrigerant guiding plate 113 which partitions each ice core portion112 in a refrigerant flowing direction is formed in the ice core portion112 to extend from upper side to lower side of an inner circumferentialsurface of the housing 111. The refrigerant guiding plate 113 is formedshorter than the length of the ice core portion 112 such that front andrear sides of each ice core portion 112 can be communicated with eachother at a lower end of the refrigerant guiding plate 113. Accordingly,a refrigerant can be introduced by the refrigerant guiding plate 113 toevenly circulate the whole ice core portions 112.

The ice core portion 112 may separately be fabricated from the housing11 of the ice making evaporator 110 to be assembled to an outer surfaceof the housing 111. In this case, the ice core portion 112 maypreferably be implemented as a heat pipe, or a rod made of copper or amaterial having high thermal conductivity.

The ice making tray 120 may be formed of a material having high thermalconductivity, and then coupled to a container driving unit 130 forshaking the ice making tray 120 at certain speed, which allows airbubble to be out of water during the icing process. For example, thecontainer driving unit 130 may be configured such that the ice makingtray 120 is connected to a separate motor which rotates forward andbackward and thus the ice making tray 120 slowly bi-directionallyrotates within an approximately certain angle for an ice making timeperiod. Alternatively, the container driving unit 130 may be configuredsuch that an ice separating motor for rotating the ice making tray 120in order to separate ice from the ice making container 120 is used so asto allow the ice making tray 120 to bi-directionally rotate even duringthe ice making, as aforementioned.

With the ice making evaporator having such configuration, while arefrigerant introduced into the inlet of the housing 111 flows towardthe outlet thereof, the refrigerant makes a zigzag movement in alongitudinal direction of each ice core portion 112 by the refrigerantguiding plate 113 disposed inside each ice core portion 112.Accordingly, the refrigerant evenly circulates in each of the ice coreportions 112, which allows each ice core portion 112 to be cooled belowa freezing point within a short time. A surface temperature of the icecore portion 112 becomes lower than a peripheral temperature, namely,the temperature of the refrigerating chamber 2. Accordingly, the surfaceof each ice core portion 112 starts to be frozen. Such freezing servesas an ice core so as to freeze water around it. In addition, as the icemaking tray 120 is disposed in the refrigerating chamber 2 or therefrigerating chamber door 4, the temperature of the surface of watercan be maintained higher than the freezing point, whereby the surface ofwater having air bubble generated therein is not frozen yet. Hence, theair bubble generated in the water in the ice making tray 120 movestoward the surface of water not frozen yet to be discharged, therebygenerating transparent ice without containing air bubble therein.

Such results can be obtained from the case using a heat pipe or athermal transfer rod as the ice core portion 112. That is, since one endof the heat pipe or thermal transfer rod comes into contact with thecold ice making evaporator 110, the heat pipe or the thermal transferrod is cooled within a short time. The surface of the heat pipe or thethermal transfer rod is thusly frozen, so as to rapidly freeze suchwater in the ice making tray 120. In addition, since air bubblegenerated in the water in the ice making tray 120 is discharged out ofthe surface of non-frozen water, the ice generated can have hightransparency. Also, during the icing of the water in the ice making tray120, the container driving unit 130 is operated to continuously shakethe ice making tray 120, which makes air bubble fast effectively bedischarged, thereby further enhancing the transparency of ice.

Next, when the surface of the ice core portion 112 is frozen, thedirection of the first refrigerant converting valve 51 is changed suchthat a refrigerant of the compressor 10 is guided toward the bypass pipe62 via the second outlet. The high temperature refrigerant guided to thebypass pipe 62 is introduced into the inlet of the ice making evaporator110. The high temperature refrigerant then circulates inside each icecore portion 112 by the refrigerant guiding plate 113, thereby toincrease a surface temperature of the ice core portion 112 within ashort time. Accordingly, the surface of the ice core portion 112 and theice are quickly separated from each other, and thereby ice is dropped inthe ice making tray 120. Prior to this process, by removing the waterfrom the ice making tray 120, when the ice dropped in the ice makingtray 120 is collected in an ice storing container 200 disposed below theice making tray 120, it can be prevented that water cannot be pouredtogether with the ice in the ice storing container 200.

To this end, as shown in FIG. 9, the refrigerating chamber door 4 isprovided with a supply/drain unit 300 for supplying or discharging waterof the ice making tray 120. The supply/drain unit 300 may include awater tank 310 installed in the refrigerating chamber door 4 for storinga certain amount of water, a water supply/drain line 320 and a waterpump 330 for pumping and supplying water to the ice making container 120upon freezing water of the water tank 310 while pumping and dischargingwater of the ice making tray 120 upon separating ice. A water filter 340for filtering newly introduced water is further provided at an inlet ofthe water tank 310. A dispenser line 350 for supplying water to adispenser may further be connected in the middle of the watersupply/drain line 320. A drain pipe 360 for discharging water generatedwhen ice stored in the bottom of the ice storing container 200 is meltedmay be connected to the water tank 310 or to a drain tray (not shown).

In the meantime, other embodiments of the refrigerating cycle device inthe refrigerator according to the present invention will now bedescribed.

That is, the aforementioned embodiments are implemented such that thecooling evaporator 30 is connected to the ice making evaporator 110 inparallel; however, these embodiments are implemented such that thecooling evaporator 30 is connected to the ice making evaporator 110 inseries.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the compressor 10, the condenser 20,the cooling evaporator 30 and the ice making evaporator 110 aresequentially disposed to configure a closed loop. The first refrigerantconverting valve 51 is disposed between the compressor 10 and thecondenser 20. The second outlet of the first refrigerant convertingvalve 51 is diverged from the main pipe 61 to be connected to the inletof the ice making evaporator 110 via the bypass pipe 62. The expandingvalve 40 is installed between the condenser 20 and the coolingevaporator 30.

Even in this case, the ice core portions 112 formed as long as beingsunk in water in the ice making tray 120 is protruded from the lowersurface of the ice making evaporator 110, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8. Eachice core portion 112 is provided with a refrigerant guiding plate 113allowing an even circulation of the refrigerant. As shown in theaforementioned embodiments, the ice making tray 120 may be coupled tothe container driving unit 130 and simultaneously to the supply/drainunit 300.

In the refrigerant according to the above embodiment, a refrigerantdischarged from the compressor 10 is introduced into the refrigerantevaporator 30 via the condenser 20 to generate cold air. Such cold airis supplied each to the refrigerating chamber 2 and the freezing chamber3 of the refrigerant main body 1, so as to keep food stored in eachchamber in the fresh state. Simultaneously, the refrigerant introducedinto the ice making evaporator 110 via the refrigerant evaporator 30cools the ice core portion 12 of the ice making evaporator 110 in ashort time, so as to form ice, whereby an ice making time candrastically be decreased and transparent ice can be creased due to theremoval of air bubble. On the other hand, upon separating ice, the firstrefrigerant converting valve 51 is used to introduce a high temperaturerefrigerant into the ice making evaporator 110 via the bypass pipe 62and thereby the ice core portion 112 of the ice making evaporator 110 isheated to allow a fast separation of the created ice, resulting infacilitating the separation of ice. Other components including the icecore portion 112 and an operational effect thereof are the same orsimilar to the aforementioned embodiments, detailed explanation of whichwill thusly be omitted.

Also, the cooling evaporator according to this embodiment may beconfigured by a refrigerating chamber evaporator 31 and a freezingchamber evaporator. In this case, the refrigerating chamber evaporator31 may be connected to the freezing chamber evaporator 32 in parallel asshown in FIGS. 12 and 13.

Alternatively, the cooling evaporator 30 and the ice making evaporator110 of the refrigerating cycle device in the refrigerator according tothe present invention may be connected to each other in series. In thiscase, as shown in FIG. 14, one cooling evaporator can be used todistribute cold air to the refrigerating chamber and the freezingchamber for supply. Otherwise, as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, therefrigerating chamber evaporator 31 and the freezing chamber evaporator32 are independently disposed, so as to connect the refrigeratingchamber evaporator 31 and the freezing chamber evaporator 32 to eachother in series.

The configuration of the refrigerating cycle device according to theseembodiments, other configuration including the ice core portion andtheir operational effects are the same or similar to the aforementionedembodiments, detailed explanation of which will thusly be omitted.

The present invention has been implemented from the perspective ofexamples applied to a bottom freezer type refrigerator in which arefrigerating chamber is disposed at an upper side and the freezingchamber is disposed. However, the present invention can be applied to atop mount type refrigerator having a refrigerating chamber disposedbelow the freezing chamber or a side-by-side type refrigerator havingrefrigerating chamber and freezing chamber disposed side by side. Also,the present invention can be applied to other types of ice makers usinga refrigerating cycle device other than the refrigerators.

[Pretext]

Cooling evaporator, ice making evaporator, ice core portion, ice makingtray.

1. A refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator main body having at leastone chamber and at least one door for opening/closing the at least onechamber; a compressor disposed in the refrigerant main body; a condenserdisposed in the refrigerant main body and connected to the compressor; acooling evaporator disposed in the refrigerant main body and connectedto the condenser for supplying cold air into the at least one chamber;and an ice making evaporator disposed in the refrigerant main body andconnected to the condenser for freezing water contained in an ice makingtray.
 2. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the cooling evaporator isconnected to the ice making evaporator in parallel.
 3. The refrigeratorof claim 2, wherein the cooling evaporator is provided in plurality, andthe plurality of cooling evaporators are connected to each other inparallel.
 4. The refrigerator of claim 2, wherein the cooling evaporatoris provided in plurality, and the plurality of cooling evaporators areconnected to each other in series.
 5. The refrigerator of claim 4,wherein the plurality of cooling evaporators are connected to each otherin parallel.
 6. The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein a plurality ofexpanding valves are disposed between each of the cooling evaporatorsand the condenser.
 7. The refrigerator of claim 2, wherein a valve forrestricting the flow of refrigerant is disposed at at least one portionbetween the condenser and the ice making evaporator or between the icemaking evaporator and the compressor.
 8. The refrigerator of claim 1,wherein the cooling evaporator is connected to the ice making evaporatorin series.
 9. The refrigerator of claim 8, wherein the coolingevaporator is provided in plurality, and the plurality of coolingevaporators are connected to each other in series.
 10. The refrigeratorof claim 9, wherein the plurality of cooling evaporators are connectedto each other in parallel.
 11. The refrigerator of claim 8, wherein thecooling evaporator is provided in plurality, and the plurality ofcooling evaporators are connected to each other in parallel.
 12. Therefrigerator of claim 11, wherein the ice making evaporator is connectedin series to one of the plurality of cooling evaporators.
 13. Therefrigerator of claim 8, wherein the ice making evaporator is disposeddownstream of the cooling evaporator.
 14. The refrigerator of claim 8,wherein the ice making evaporator is disposed upstream of the coolingevaporator.
 15. The refrigerator of claim 8, wherein a plurality ofexpanding valves are disposed between each of the cooling evaporatorsand the condenser.
 16. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the coolingevaporator and the ice making evaporator are connected to one condenser.17. The refrigerator of claim 16, wherein the one condenser to which thecooling evaporator and the ice making evaporator are connected isconnected to one compressor.
 18. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein arefrigerant converting valve is disposed at a discharge side of thecompressor, and a bypass pipe for guiding a high temperature refrigerantupon separating ice is connected between the refrigerant convertingvalve and an inlet of the ice making evaporator.
 19. The refrigerator ofclaim 1, wherein the ice making evaporator comprises a housing havinginlet and outlet allowing introduction and discharge of a refrigerant,and at least one or more ice core portions each protruded from one sideof the housing by a certain length as long as being sunk in water of theice making tray.
 20. The refrigerator of claim 19, wherein the housingis formed in a shape of a pipe having inlet and outlet at both sidesthereof, and the ice core portions are formed individually along thelengthwise direction of the housing.
 21. The refrigerator of claim 20,wherein the housing is curved at least one more times on a plane. 22.The refrigerator of claim 19, wherein the ice core portions areintegrally formed at one side surface of the housing.
 23. Therefrigerator of claim 22, wherein a refrigerant guiding plate extends ina lengthwise direction inside each ice core portion, to divide the icecore portion in an approximately orthogonal direction to the flowingdirection of a refrigerant such that the divided parts of each ice coreportion are communicated with each other at the lower end thereof. 24.The refrigerator of claim 19, wherein the ice core portion is attachedto an outer surface of the housing.
 25. The refrigerator of claim 24,wherein the ice core portion is configured as a heat pipe or a rodformed of a material having high thermal conductivity.
 26. Therefrigerator of claim 19, wherein the ice making tray is coupled to acontainer driving unit which shakes the ice making tray.
 27. Therefrigerator of claim 19, wherein the ice making tray is configured tosupply water to the same upon icing water while being coupled to a watersupply/drain unit for draining water of the same upon separating ice.28. The refrigerator of claim 27, wherein the water supply/drain unitcomprises a water tank, and water supply/drain line and water pump forpumping water of the water tank so as to supply the pumped water to theice making tray or to drain the pumped water out of the ice making tray.29. The refrigerator of claim 28, wherein an ice storing container forstoring ice created in the ice making tray is further provided at oneside of the ice making tray, and a drain pipe for discharging watergenerated when ice is melted is connected to the ice storing container.30. The refrigerator of claim 29, wherein the drain pipe is connected tothe water tank.
 31. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the ice makingevaporator is disposed in a refrigerating chamber of the refrigeratormain body or a refrigerating chamber door.